Baby orangutan H-bridge, extremly hot

Hi

During my experiments i probably used a to high voltage to power my baby orangutan. One of the motor outputs is not working anymore. Even if i dont drive any motor, after a short while the h-bridge is super hot. I have tried to disconnect the motor, but It is still getting hot.

Is there any way to disconnect the h-bridge so i atleast can use the other out and inputs? I just use it to learn so i can probably get good use of it even without the motors.

/Simon

Hello, Simon.

I am sorry to hear you damaged your Baby Orangutan. If you have the right equipment, you might try removing the the entire driver IC from the board. Alternatively, you might try disabling the driver IC by disconnecting its input power pin. The motor driver used on the Baby Orangutan is a TB6612FNG, and you can find information on its pins in its datasheet.

- Grant

Hi Grant and thank you for the help, but i dont think i will be able to replace the H-Bridge.
Could i use an external motordriver and power it with the other PWM outputs? (PB1 & PB2)
This one for example: sparkfun.com/products/9457

Is there anywhere i can find a example how to use PB1 and PB2 as PWM outputs and to set them at a frequency?

You can use pins PB1 and PB2 on the Baby Orangutan to send logic level PWM signal to an external motor driver, but you would need to approiately supply power to the motor driver separately. Depending on your setup, the power supply you are using for VIN on your Baby Orangutan might work. You might still want to disable the damaged driver IC so it does not heat up your board; both of the ways I suggested in my previous post could be performed without replacing the driver IC.

By the way, we also carry a TB6612FNG Dual Motor Driver Carrier you might consider.

- Grant

Thank you for the help. Sorry, i did not find your motor driver earlier. But i had to order an other since i live in Sweden and dont want to wait the extra delivery time. I found one like the one i linked to but from a company over here. I have completely removed the old H-bridge and connected the new one throug PWM-Outputs PB1 & PB2. But it have not had time to write the program to test it yet. I will get back to you when i have tested it. The result might help someone else someday.

Again, thank you for the help so far.
/Simon

i have almost the same problem.

Hello.

What makes you suspect you have the same issue?

- Grant